Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 by Denise Tompkins Read Free Book Online Page A

harumphing sound and shrugged, his emotions barely contained. “We’ve no method to speak to each other. How will I reach you?” A frown tugged at his lips, and his fingers dug into the muscles of his crossed arms.
    I smiled gently. “You’ll call me on the phone like a normal man,” I said. I walked over to him and gently bumped his chest with my shoulder. “Do you have a cell phone?”
    “Not with me. I rarely carry it.”
    “Get one that you’ll keep on you,” I suggested. “Then we can keep in touch. I’ve got this niggling feeling about the murdered girl, and we’ve got to elect new Council members. You’ll need the phone regardless.”
    “Fine.” He stared down at me, impassive. And then the sun came out in the way of his smile. “For you.” He dipped to kiss me quickly before I could object.
    I backed up hard and fast, bouncing off the wall. “No more of that, Hellion.” I cinched the robe tighter against his lustful gaze and the physical response he seemed to wring from me. “I have to go.”
    “So you keep saying. I’ll be out of here as soon as you close the door. Any parting wisdom from the Niteclif?” He pushed to standing and slid his hands back in his pockets, rocking slowly back and forth on the balls of his feet.
    So he didn’t entirely trust me not to run out of the room screaming. I wasn’t the only cautious one. Still, my gaze ran over his body, head to toe, and I licked my lower lip. “Oh, yeah.”
    He quirked an eyebrow in question, a small smile tugging at his lips.
    “Put your shirt on before you leave.”
    He threw back his head and laughed long and loud, the rich baritone sound pulling another genuine grin out of me as I turned and fled the room.
     
    I walked slowly down the carpeted hallway until I got to the elevator. I didn’t want to go back to my room, but clothed in only a T-shirt, underwear and borrowed robe, I had little choice. I strongly suspected   my return would bring about chaos, and I was worried. Would Bahlin be able to read the guilt in my face if he was there? Because guilty I was. No, I wasn’t still formally bound to my dragon, but my heart had been his and his alone until last night when he gave it back. Now it was divided and I found myself conflicted. I was also feeling very adrift, as if I’d been cut loose from all who cared about me, from parents to friends to lover, and all I wanted was to belong, to be genuinely loved by someone. What if Hellion… No. I’d not explore that just yet.
    That damned prophecy , I grumped, kicking at the front of the robe just as the elevator car arrived with a soft ding . I boarded the car and did my best to ignore the stares from the elderly couple who already occupied the car.
    “Floor?” asked the gentleman.
    “ Hmph ,” said his octogenarian partner, taking in my bathrobe and disheveled hair.
    Unable to help myself, I turned to face her when I answered. “I believe I left my other lover on twenty-two.”
    He smiled and she glared at me. I glared right back. She reached around her partner and pushed the next floor button.
    “But Genevieve, that’s not our flo—”
    “It is now,” she hissed, and dragged him off the elevator as soon as it stopped.
    I’m not usually such a snark, but her attitude had empowered the bitch in me to make an appearance. Oh well. It would give them something to talk about over dinner.
    The elevator arrived at my floor and I exited to a flurry of activity. There were people rushing about, two men were posted in the hallway outside my room, and the door was propped open. I heard Bahlin bellow something along the lines of, “I don’t give a flying fuck what your excuse is, find her .” I cringed. This was going to be ugly.
    Just as I was contemplating getting back on the elevator, one of the guards spotted me.
    “Hold it,” he ordered.
    I stumbled backward and fell into a table holding a fresh flower arrangement. It crashed to the marble elevator foyer and splintered. I